What is the heart?

Chapter 1:

Heartless

'I stand alone in the rain,

Imagining myself in someone's embrace.

How I long for the warm touch of a hand against my heart,

Another soul intertwined with my own.

I long for the gentle brush of lips against mine,

Or some softly spoken words of comfort to soothe me of my pain.

I long for someone kind and gentle to hold me in their arms,

Or to be locked in a passionate eternal kiss whose fires set the world alight.

But I stand alone in the rain,

Longing to be loved.'

Ulquiorra

Ulquiorra awoke in a cold sweat, breathless and alert. It had been years since he had last dreamed; years since he threw away his emotions to destroy the last traces of his humanity. For Ulquiorra, sleep had become merely a time to rest one's physical body, nothing more. He did not have dreams.

And yet tonight, he had.

He had dreamed he was human, in the world of the living, feeling emotions that were so vivid and new and confusing, that his heart almost burst… Ulquiorra shook his head. These so called emotions were not real. He did not feel anything, for he had no heart to feel with. He was a hollow. Being heartless was in his nature.

Yet a heart is needed, in order to dream.

*****

"You called for me, Aizen-sama?" Ulquiorra stood in the doorway of the Los Noches throne room, awaiting commands from his master.

"Yes, my dear cuatro espada." Aizen paused, and frowned.

"You seem a little strange today, Ulquiorra. Is there something bothering you? Is there a question you wish to ask your lord?"

"Yes, Aizen-sama. I have a question," Ulquiorra said, emotionlessly.

"Go on."

"What is the heart?"

"Ah," remarked Aizen, thoughtfully. "I would have thought you might have known this, Ulquiorra. The heart is a circulatory organ, which is essential to the human body. It also happens to be the place where the chain of fate is attached, which is why most hollows have their holes in their chest, because that's where they're hearts used to be. Because of this, the heart has become something sentimental to both humans and shinigami, and they use the word 'heart' to represent where their emotions come from."

"So, the heart is a good thing, then?" asked Ulquiorra, in his blank, almost monotone voice.

"Humans and shinigami believe so, yes. They believe so because the 'heart' is the source of emotions such as happiness and so called love. However, they are wrong. The heart is the source of much pain and suffering. That, actually, is why I summoned you, Ulquiorra. I summoned you in order to prove this point to my dear friend Gin, here. You see, he still foolishly believes that the heart is a good thing."

Ulquiorra turned his head slightly to look at Gin, who was sitting to Aizen's left. Ichimaru Gin shrugged, the sinisterly wide smile he always wore never once leaving his face.

"I guess I just don' think it'd be any fun without emotions, 's all," grinned Gin. Ulquiorra wondered how he could possibly have a different opinion to Aizen-sama, and stay smiling.

"So, Ulquiorra," said Aizen. "This is where you come in. You perfectly fit the description of heartless, in both senses of the word. That is why I need you to help me with this. Besides, this should help take up some of this disastrously boring free time I have nowadays. So, are you willing to help me?"

"Of course, Aizen-sama."

"Good. Then lets begin." Aizen stepped down off his throne-like chair and strode across the room towards Ulquiorra, a shiny silver knife in his hand.

Slowly, Aizen reached up with the knife and made a small cut across Ulquiorra's cheek, deep enough to cause a flow of blood to stain his face, but not enough even to make him flinch.

"Ulquiorra, could you please describe how that feels," Aizen said, refraining from grinning in order to remain serious.

"It is very mild physical pain, Aizen-sama."

"Very good, Ulquiorra. Now could you please describe how it feels when I say 'nobody loves you'?"

"I feel nothing, Aizen-sama, for they are merely words.

"Good. So far the results of this experiment are going exactly as I predicted." Aizen raised his knife once again. "Now, shall we proceed? Ulquiorra, please remove your shirt."

Ulquiorra did as he was told, removing the top half of his white robes to reveal his flawless, chalky white chest. Aizen slashed down with the knife, spoiling that perfect white torso with a flow of scarlet. He had made a slash going from Ulquiorra's left shoulder going diagonally across his chest, and although the wound was shallow and not life threatening, blood poured out freely, causing the white world of Los Noches to be splayed with red.

White floor.

White walls.

White robes.

White body.

Crimson blood.

*****

An hour or so later, Ulquiorra stumbled out of the Los Noches throne room, beaten and covered in blood. Over the past 60 agonising minutes, Aizen had proceeded with this so-called experiment, and had begun to torture Ulquiorra, both physically and emotionally, in as many ways as possible. This was simply his fun new game. But now Ulquiorra was free to go. Until the next time, that was. For the mighty and powerful cuatro Espada was simply Aizen's pet. His little toy. And everyone in Hueco Mundo knew it.

"What the hell happened to you?" sneered a familiar voice. Grimjow Jagerjaques, the sixth Espada stood above Ulquiorra, clearly amused at the sight of his fellow arrancar in pain. "What in the world did you do to get punished like that? I mean, you're Aizen's little pet, aren't you? You always follow orders to the letter."

"This was not a punishment," coughed Ulquiorra. Although his voice was strained and weak with pain, it still remained void of any emotion. "It is the result of an experiment. Aizen-sama merely wished to test something. Something to do with the heart."

"Well, whatever. I just didn't figure you to be the type that just stands around letting himself be tortured."

"It's not torture, it's…" But the sixth Espada had already turned his back on Ulquiorra and was walking away, leaving the emerald-eyed arrancar lying alone in the white corridor.

Yay! I wrote something serious for once! I think I'm going to write a poem at the beginning of every chapter... anyway, I've already started chapter 2, so hopefully it won't take too long. PLEASE REVIEW!